Tuesday, December 01, 1981

Berlin, die Sinfonie der Grossstadt / Berliini: suurkaupungin sinfonia. DE 1927. D: Walther Ruttmann. Filmklubben / Filmhuset. Without the Edmund Meisel music. Fine.Smultronstället. tv. [5] Revisiting after six years. Weaknesses: the fourth generation; the past too idyllic.Die Büchse der Pandora / Pandoran lipas. DE 1929. D: G.W. Pabst. Wedekind. Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner. Fkl / Filmstaden. A 150 min presentation [at 16 fps?]. Amazingly contemporary. Louise Brooks has not dated. Weakness: the storyline.Some Like It Hot. International Youth Center, 16mm. [3]. An apt coincidence to see this on the same evening after Pandora. I saw it for the first time, previously I had only looked at it.Nick's Movie / Salama veden yllä. SE/DE 1980. D: Wim Wenders [& Nicholas Ray]. Fkl / Fh. Wenders' macabre deathwatch of Ray. Hated it. When Wim's team plans to blow itself up in a Chinese junk, it sound like the suggestion most worthy of support in the entire film. Three good sequences: 1) Nick presents The Lusty Men to a young audience, 2) a small group watches We Can't Go Home Again, 3) Ray directs Kafka's A Report to the Academy.Här har du ditt liv. tv [2] Feels diluted in comparison with the recollection of ten years ago. I did not see all of the beginning.Ladri di biciclette / Polkupyörävaras. IT 1948. D: Vittorio De Sica. Fkl / Fst. Worthy of its reputation. Exemplary, admirable in its clarity and wealth. A feeling of a voyage of discovery. Psychologically sensitive. Cf. The Kid by Chaplin.The Cocoanuts. Fkl / Fh [3] A bad print from Malmö.While the City Sleeps / Huulipunamurhaaja. US 1955. D: Fritz Lang. tv. A mordant look on sensational journalism. Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Ida Lupino, James Craig ("pix editor"), Thomas Mitchell (the Irish drunkard), Sally Forrest (DA's fiancée as the bait for the killer). Top of them all: Vincent Price as the corrupt son of the media magnate. The killer (John Barrymore, Jr.) not convincing. The tv screen does not pay justice to L's visual force. L's architecture suffers on the small screen.Terhi's videos. Many of the same ones as seen in earlier in November and December, plus: David Bowie: Life On Mars? (*). Police: Invisible Sun (*). Ultravox: live footage. Ultravox: Thin Wall (*). The Rolling Stones: Waiting On A Friend (*). Simple Minds: Love Song (*). Duran Duran: Girls On Film. Bow Wow Wow: Chihuahua (?). Pearl Harbor And The Explosions: Drivin' (?) (with Wilko Johnson) (*). Tom Tom Club: Genius Of Love (*). Ry Cooder: Hollywood. The Pretenders live. etc. For the third time: video. Almost overwhelming. The history of the cinema is being plundered, and a lot of new things are being discovered. There is an affinity with the original joy of Méliès.Die Little Richard Story. DE 1980. D: William Klein. tv. Quite a good biopic. The biographical side is better than in the other similar ones (Elvis, Janis, Hendrix), but the weakness is that the musical performances are not intact.Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar god jul / Samu Sirkan joulusirkus. tv [2]. Seems to be a Swedish Christmas tradition. The living toys of Santa Claus. Clown of the Jungle (a funny bird dancing the gopak disturbs Donald's photography efforts). Cinderella (the birds and the mice sow the dress). Ferdinand the fight-hating bull. Lady and the Tramp: bella notte. The Jungle Book: Baloo teaches Mowgli to box. The Fox and the Hound (Micke och Molle): their friendship. Snow White: the dwarfs jamming. Robin Hood: robbing the tax catch. Chip and Dale in the henhouse. When You Wish Upon A Star. Hosted by Jiminy Cricket, piano by Mickey Mouse. - When Disney turns really sentimental, its awful (those calculatingly, quasi-shyly blinking eyes), as an anarchist he's at his best.Sommarnattens leende / Kesäyön hymyilyä. SE 1955. D: Ingmar Bergman. tv. I don't quite get the reputation of this, too calculating. B. balance 36/40.Assault on Precinct 13 / Hyökkäys poliisiasemalle. US 1976. D: John Carpenter. Laconic, crystallized action cinema. Reminds me more of Siegel than Hawks.Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück. DE 1929. D: Piel Jutzi. Fkl / Fh. A 150 min presentation, a decent quality of image. Story by Zille, Kollwitz participated. An obvious model for Kuhle Wampe. Realism, a sense of humour, sensuality, finally nihilism, suicide as the "journey to happiness". The thoroughness of the prose style could have been condensed. Kuhle Wampe's taut style may be a reaction to this. Anyway, a treat.Milka / Milka. FI 1980. D: Rauni Mollberg. Timo K. Mukka. Bostock. The fine feeling for nature helps one stand the terrible drawbacks of the picture. The grouse's courtship. The seasons. The birchwoods. The haymaking. The forestry. The performers of Milka's mother and the Christ-Devil are good. The theatrical, quasi-artistic recitation destroys a lot. Awkward use of close-ups. M. seems to have a big problem with sexuality. A terrible dichotomy of the good/beautiful vs. the bad/ugly.Häxan. SE 1921. D: Benjamin Christensen. Fkl / Fst. 100 min presentation, a fine, toned print. Amazingly contemporary, with a sense of humour. Might Foucault have seen this, or Resnais (Mon oncle d'Amérique)?Häxan [2]That's Entertainment. tv [2] great

About Me

Antti Alanen (born 1955) is Film Programmer at National Audiovisual Institute (Finland), which runs the Cinema Orion in Helsinki. This diary is an irregular notebook and scrapbook of rough notes on films and related matters. Spoiler alert: I spoil everything because for me the plot and the conclusion are essential to discuss!

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